I just read a very emotional post from the public radio show "OnBeing's" blog. It was written by Emily Rapp, who is a mother of a terminally ill child. The post touches on many subjects within the realm of death and dying, caring for the sick, grieving, illness, and most poignantly, compassion. Here is a brief excerpt:

We know so little about people’s lives, about what they go through. At least at the family conference where we huddle together and try to figure out how to manage and eventually eliminate all these terrible, insane diseases, everything is out in the open — all the misery, gallows humor, joy, fear, dread. As one mother said, “People talk about living each day as if it were your last, but that’s a completely exhausting way to live.” Indeed it is.